Cap with swinging tassel



y 1969 B- BARKHORDAR 3,453,771

I CAP WITH SWINGING TASSEL Filed May a, 1967 FIG. 1.

EAHMAA/ BA RKf/ORDA/P EDWARD 0 OBQ/AA/ ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,453,771 CAP WITH SWINGING TASSEL Bahman Barkhordar, 8138 Hunter Green, Buena Park, Calif. 90260 Filed May 8, 1967, Ser. No. 636,974 Int. Cl. A63h /00 US. Cl. 46-52 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The cap comprises a head piece arranged to be secured on the head. Upstanding on the head piece is a pivot post and rotatably mounted upon the pivot post is a rotatable member. Secured to the rotatable member is a flexible cord, and upon the end of the flexible cord is a cushioned weight. By appropriate head movement the weight swings around the pivot post and the rotatable member rotates upon the pivot post. The top of the head piece and the bottom of the rotatable member are in contact with each other and are appropriately shaped so that such rotation causes noise.

Background This invention is directed to a cap with a swinging tassel, where the swinging in the tassel operates a noise maker to provide entertaining noise. The cap is adapted to be worn upon the head so that head motion causes the swinging of the tassel and the production of noise.

Caps with tassels are old and well known. Some of the tassels are long enough to swing around, and such would provide part of the enjoyment that is obtained from the present cap. However, these prior structures did not include noise makers so that they were not as complete, attractive or useful.

Summary This invention is directed to a cap with a swinging tassel, the cap including a head piece which can be secured to the head of a wearer. The head piece has an upstanding pivot post extending from its top. A rotatable member is rotatably mounted upon the pivot post. A flexible cord carries a cushioned weighted ball on its end, the entire structure being such that when the wearer properly swings his head, the cushioned weighted ball and flexible cord, which form a tassel, swing around. Furthermore, the rotatable member is associated with the head piece in such a manner that noise is produced upon rotation caused by the swinging tassel. Thus, the cap with swinging tassel of this invention has additional features and functions as compared to the prior art structures.

It is an object of this invention to provide a cap with swinging tassel which makes noise as the tassel is swung. It is a further object of this invention to provide-a cap with a swinging tassel which includes a head piece upon which is rotatably mounted a noise making member and with a tassel secured to the noise making member so that as the tassel is swung, noise is produced. It is a further object of this invention to provide a cap with a swinging tassel which is economic of manufacture and is easily used so that it can be widely enjoyed. It is a further object of this invention to provide a cushioned weight on the end of the tassel with adequate cushioning so that no harm can come from the weight should it strike an adjacent person. Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a study of the following portion of this specification, the claims and the attached drawings.

Description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the cap with swinging tassel of this invention.

"ice

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical section through the cap of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged perspective view, with parts broken away, showing the details of the rotatable member and the pivot post upon which it is mounted together with the associated portions of the head piece.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged section taken generally along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

Description The cap with swinging tassel is indicated generally in the drawings by the reference numeral 10. Cap 10 includes head piece 12. Head piece 12 is crowned, and has downwardly directed concavity. The interior concave surface of the head piece is indicated at 14. Preferably mounted within the head piece and on the interior surface 14 is cushion 16. Cushion 16 is preferably of resilient material which is tapered at the edges to provide a comfortable fit of the head piece 12 upon the head of the wearer. In order to retain the head piece 12 upon the head, the head piece is provided with chin strap 18. Chin strap 18 is secured at opposite edges of the head piece, such as at slots 20. Chin strap 18 carries slide 22 which is slidable upon the chinstrap to tighten the chin strap underneath the chin of a wearer. By means of the chin strap head piece 12 is firmly held in place upon the head of the wearer. The upper surface of the head piece can be provided with decorative ribs 24.

The upper surface is provided with an upstanding pivot post 26. The pivot post has a major diameter 28 and a minor diameter 30. These are cylindrical surfaces having common axes. Pivot post 26 is preferably mounted directly upon the center of the head piece, so that the axes of the cylindrical surfaces are common with the axis of the outer brim of the head piece and of the concave inner surface 14. Pivot post 26 has an interior hole 32, again preferably in the common axes, which receives retainer pin 34. Preferably the entire head piece, with its pivot post 26 is formed of a semi-rigid injection moldable synthetic polymer composition material so that it can be easily and economically manufactured.

Head piece 12 has a plurality of radial ribs 36 thereon. These ribs extend radially outward from the common axis, outward from pivot post 26 and terminate in a circular face 38 which has its axis also lying upon the common axis. Radial ribs 36 are preferably in the form of equilateral triangles in cross section and thus have substantially 60 included angles. Radial ribs 36 comprise the lower half of the noise maker structure and the angles and the number of ribs may vary in accordance with the desired noise making effect.

Rotatable member 40 is generally cup shaped and has an interior recess 42. Radially outward from the recess, rotatable member 40 has downwardly projected radial ribs 44 which correspond to and mate with radial ribs 36. The outer diameter of radial ribs 44 is substantially equal to circular face 38. Rotatable member 40 has an interior bore 46 so that it can be mounted upon pivot post 26. The bore 46 is large enough to fit over the major diameter 28 with a rotating fit. Guide bars 48 and 50 extend upward from the generally spherical upper surface of rotating member 40. Three or four guide bars are preferred. The guide bars extend inward to a smaller diameter than bore 46 and 'rotatably engage upon minor diameter 30. They are engaged on the top by the head of retainer pin 34 so that the entire rotatable member 40 is retained upon its pivot pin 26. There is sufficient vertical clearance under the head of retainer pin 34, as is seen in FIG. 2, to permit the rotatable member 40 to rise slightly so that the ribs 36 and 44 can engage and disengage to thus produce a small amount of axial movement of the rotatable member.

Rotatable member 40 also has a boss 52 on one side thereof. Cord hole 54 extends through the boss, and counter bore 56 communicates between recess 42 and cord hole 54. A flexible cord 58 is passed through cord hole 54 and knot 60 is formed on the cord and is placed in counter bore 56.

Weight 62 is secured on the outer end of flexible cord 58. Weight '62 is preferably in the form of an inner heavy weight having a soft covering. If desired, and preferably, the soft covering is of several layers of different materials. When the weight is metallic, it is preferably covvered by resilient foam and the foam in turn is covered by long haired fuzzy material, such as looped knitting yarn or the like. The weighted ball thus has sutficient weight to cause proper swinging and is properly padded to prevent hurt to nearby people, should it strike them. Flexible cord 58 is of appropriate length to obtain the desired speed of rotation. With shorter cord lengths, rotative speed is higher and with longer cord lengths it is lower.

In use, the head piece 12 is placed on the wearers head and chin strap 18 is pulled reasonably tight by use of slide 22. Thereupon, strictly by head motion, the wearer can cause the cushioned weighted ball 62 to swing circularly about his head. This in turn causes rotation of rotatable member 40 on its pivot post 26. This rotation causes successive engagement and disengagement between the radial ribs 36 upon the rotatable member and the radial ribs 44 upon the top of the head piece. This interaction causes noise. In view of the proximity of the noise maker to the users head, and its virtual direct connection thereto, it is desirable that the noise maker be other than very noisy, and preferably it produces a moderate buzzing sound. The cushion 16 helps cushion the head from the direct vibrations and thus makes the moderate vibration of the noise maker acceptable. The amount of noise and vibration can be selected to suit the manufacturers desires by changing the number of radial ribs 36 and 44 and by reducing their height and reducing their angles. However, the approximate number and angle illustrated serve to produce a noise which is within the correct region of volume and frequency, together with only moderate vibration.

I claim:

1. A cap with a swinging tassel, said cap comprising:

a head piece, said head piece being arranged to be worn upon the head of the user, a vertical pivot means upon said head piece;

a rotatable member mounted on said pivot means so as to be horizontally rotatable with respect to said head piece; and

a weight eccentrically secured to said rotatable member so that head movement of the wearer causes swinging of the weight and rotation of said rotatable member upon said pivot means, the improvement comprising:

4 noise making means, said noise making means comprising a first part secured to said head piece and a second part secured to said rotatable means, said noise making means being arranged so that rotation of said rotatable means with respect to said head piece makes noise.

2. The cap with swinging tassel of claim 1 wherein said pivot means comprises upright post, said upright post being secured to the upper surface of said head piece substantially at the midpoint thereof.

3. The cap with swinging tassel of claim 2 wherein said rotatable means has a bore therein, said bore embracing said post and being a rotatable fit with respect to said post so that said rotatable means can rotate about said post.

4. The swinging tassel of claim 3 wherein said post is integrally formed with said head piece, said post having a major diameter and a minor diameter, each defining a cylindrical surface having common axes, said minor diameter being farther away from the top surface of said head piece than said major diameter.

5. The cap with swinging tassel of claim 4 wherein said rotatable member is in rotating engagement with both said major diameter and said minor diameter.

6. The cap with swinging tassel of claim 5 wherein a retainer pin is mounted in said post, said retainer pin having a head, said head engaging over a portion of said rotatable member so as to retain said rotatable member on said post.

7. The cap with swinging tassel of claim 1 wherein said noise making means comprises a plurality of radial ribs on said head piece adjacent the pivot means thereon and comprises a plurality of radial ribs on the underside of said rotatable means, said radial ribs on said head piece and said radial ribs on said rotatable member being in interengaging contact with each other to cause noise when said rotatable means is rotated with respect to said head piece.

8. The cap with swinging tassel of claim 7 wherein said radial ribs on said head piece and said radial ribs on said swinging tassel are each of triangular cross section.

9. The cap with swinging tassel of claim 8 wherein said triangular cross section comprises a substantially equilateral triangle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,958,156 11/ 1960 Schmahl et a1. 46-47 2,960,793 11/1960 Van Cleave 4647 3,184,884 5/1965 Petrucelli 4651 3,216,149 11/ 1965 Briese 46-47 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

P. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner. 

